We are far from seasoned liveaboards but some how we seem to be searching for our third boat. What the?? There are many great sailboats out there set up for family cruisers with one or two kids and there are even more sailboats out there for couple sailing, but what if you have three kids? You’re options are few and far between. We are looking for the unicorn of sailboats, the aluminum 3-4 cabin offshore cruising sailboat. It does exist but along with it comes the fairy tale price tag, in which we can’t afford.
If you’ve followed our journey from the start, you will remember back in 2012 we bought our beautiful Skye 51 a 51’ fiberglass ketch. While we were refitting her, we decided to change up her layout. She originally came with a double berth in the aft and a double mid-ship. I’m a terrible sleeper and we wanted the girls to have separate beds. We created a large forward V-berth and a second berth in the aft. Never undertake a layout change of a sailboat, it’s a money pit. We were in the final stages of the refit and found out I was pregnant – again! What the??! We didn’t want to have our girls sharing a bed or have the baby sleep in the salon so we decided after dumping a fortune into the Skye that we would put her on the market and look for a boat with an extra cabin.
In hindsight kids really can share a bed and a baby really can sleep in the salon. Living on board with our family has made us rethink space. We should have kept the Skye and sailed her until our kids were a little bigger but we decided that fiberglass wasn’t for us. It leaks and Carl is not too thrilled dealing with the itchy stuff. Nothing against people out there sailing with fiberglass, Carl’s skills are with metal not fiberglass and seeing that I’m not great at boat maintenance I was happy to move to metal.
In September of 2013 we bought a steel Bruce Roberts New York 65, Salty was larger than what we were looking for, 45’-50’ has always been our size but she was such a bargain and Carl had said that she only had a few cosmetic problems. NEVER believe your husband when he’s trying to sell you on a boat. We made a lot of improvements to Salty and she is now an Arctic sailing beast. Salty will always remain a 65 foot sailboat. With 65 feet you have a stout rig, larger ground tackle, large battery bank, gigantic sails and of course an expensive boom – that I decided to crash jibe and snap in Newfoundland f*#k sticks!! She is a boat with room to spare. The forward V-berth was converted into our storage locker and we even had a spare bunk for visitors. It was our dream boat but like most dream houses, she was too big. Too expensive, too much to clean and when we had a cat on board we lost her a few times. Who loses a cat on a boat?
Now it’s 2016, a fresh year for a fresh boat. Third times a charm right?
What have we learned in 3 years and two boats under our belts, this is based on having kids onboard:
-
never change a boats layout
-
kids are adaptable and will be happy in a small space
-
babies are not the end of the world when it comes to sailing
-
bigger is not always better
-
fiberglass leaks and steel rusts
-
have all lines running to the cockpit, with kids you really are single handing it
-
steel or aluminum is a must for extreme latitudes
-
one mast is better if you have little people running around constantly tripping on lines
-
minimal systems, both our boats had all the bells and whistles. They cost big bucks and suck time with maintenance and you can learn to go without
-
flat decks are great for kids
-
a stern platform is great for getting kids in and out of the dingy, also for swimming
-
spend the time to make covers (out of old sheets) for your cushions
-
a lifting keel is great for all waters
-
the higher the lifelines the better – with little kids
-
a go fast dingy is great but if you’re a single parent pulling it up on shore with kids it’s bloody hard. Slow, long dingy rides are also not fun with kids
-
a pilot house is extremely handy for deck visibility
-
one head is best
-
toy storage is extremely important
-
buy wine in boxes, never keep onions in the bilge and put your hard drives in zip lock bags
We’re hoping in 2016 we find the perfect boat that will work best for our family of five but will also serve us well when the kids decide to ditch us for their own travels when they’re older. We want a boat that will evolve as our needs change. A boat that can go from a tropical family cruiser to high latitude expeditions.
What makes the perfect kid cruising boat for you? Is it bunk beds, extra cabins, two heads, large galley, clean decks? When thinking of purchasing a sailboat it’s good to shop around, the more boats you board the better understanding on what will work best with your family.
Kate ellis says
he he he. Buy wine in boxes….you are speaking my language!
Carly says
I prefer beer over wine but wine is way easier to store
Kate says
Beer, wine, rum…..all enjoyable!
Carly says
Up north I could drink beer straight out of the bilge, it was magical!
Chris says
Fun article. Thanks. I will certainly take your advice not to change a layout!
I’ve never known fiberglass to leak. I don’t think that’s a common issue. There’s a reason almost all sailboats are made of fiberglass. Perhaps you had some sort of specific problem with your boat?
Wine in a box rules. Why no onions in the bilge?
Chris
Carly says
Chris it’s not that the fiberglass leaks, it’s the objects that penetrate the deck like stanchions. We found that we had to constantly seal anything that penetrated the deck. With steel and aluminum everything is welded creating a strong seal.
As for the onions, you could probably keep them in the bilge in the tropics but in colder climates we had a ton of condensation in the bilge which caused the onions to spoil quickly. I was previously warned about onions in the bilge but had to learn the mushy lesson myself. Carrots did great in our moist, cold bilge.
Kevin says
What has been stated & lamented seems spot on. I personally saw insight on your Bruce Roberts sailboat. The photos provided gave layout insight along with extreme locations voyage depictions. Good luck on your search. I assume the market should be saturated.
Carly says
Thanks Kevin, there are a lot of boats on the market so hopefully we find the right boat before my husband decides to build one.
Justin says
Enjoyed reading the article. Thanks. Building your own “perfect” boat is really the way to go for skilled individuals like you guys. I couldn’t agree more about the lack of reasonably priced boats for larger families (3 kids+) within the 45′ to 50′ range. If buying an used boat still costing lots of $$$ and time to get her ready, might as well bite the bullet and build that “perfect” boat.
I came across the following boat in my search (maybe it’s a possible choice?):
http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/57970
http://www.sailboat-cruising.com/a-famous-1977-sparkman-stephens-aluminum-ocean-racing-sailboat-for-sale.html
Carly says
Justin, thanks for the link. We’ve seen that one for sale and it is a good deal but being an ex racing boat it doesn’t have the beam we’re looking for. It’s amazing how much more space you gain with an extra foot or two of beam. And please don’t mention building a boat, I’m already trying to discourage Carl from the idea. I want to be on the water this winter, not 5 winters from now. I think 45′-50′ boats are pricier because they’re in high demand. We’ll just keep on looking. We have a few on our list we’d like to look at but no point until Carl returns in September.
Adrian Worrall says
Hi Carly
Thanks for the useful tips and photos.
We are having an aluminium Voyager 650 designed to use as a boat school for our family and friends. Email us if you’d like to know more and see layouts.
Jane and Adrian, London (and Greece)
Carly says
Sounds amazing! We’re trying to find something that’s under 60′, it’s just too much work for us with 3 young kids. Voyager is a Bruce Roberts design. I checked on their website and saw Voyager but it was 50′. Running a boat school sounds like fun.
Adrian and jane says
The Voyager 650 is not on their website for some reason. Hal Whitacre of Bruce Roberts USA has modified the V650 to provide a class room above and accommodation for 4(!) families (at least for short periods).
Regarding your needs: you could try a joint enterprise with another family to share costs and risks and then go for a new build; you could have a “sailaway” hull built and take it to somewhere cheap for the fit out. Best of all, as you know, is to be flexible as possible, find a used boat and then refit.We tried and gave up with the latter because our needs are too particular.
The great thing about running a school is you can have a business and have your kids on board (unlike chartering, diving, etc).
Happy to discuss.
Cheers.
Adrian and Jane
Carly says
Sounds like a good option. Must be pretty hectic to run a business with your kids on board. We’re still trying to work things out, gosh it’s hard to balance money with lifestyle.